Here Comes The Boom
by brokenbottleaurora
Summary: A series of interconnected drabbles and shorts in which Dean finds out that life with Seamus is never quiet.
1. Explosive Beginnings

**Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.**

* * *

" **BOOM!** "

Smoke filled the air as tiny bits of ash wafted down onto the heads of all the first year Gryffindors.

" _Ventus_ ," Professor Flitwick sighed. "A good effort Mr. Finnigan, but let's try not to have a repeat performance, shall we?"

Seamus flushed deeply as Dean scooted a bit farther away from his very embarrassed partner. Flitwick finished clearing the area, gave the two wizards another piece of paper to practice their Fire-Making Charm on, and tottered away.

"Sorry, mate," Seamus muttered. "I reckon it just got away from me."

"Eh, it happens to the best of us," Dean replied with a wide smile that made Seamus feel oddly fuzzy inside. "Except maybe Hermione. Have another go, but this time try moving your wrist instead of your whole arm. The book says that if you…"

* * *

"pop…Pop...POP… **CRACK!** "

Seamus had known this Confounding Concoction would be a failure from the moment he added an extra lacewing fly (in his defense, it was nearly microscopic). Extra lace wing fly probably didn't react well with the magic of the Confundus Charm in the last step, he mused.

"FINNIGAN! You blithering fool!" Snape screamed as Seamus's now cracked cauldron fell to the floor in pieces, the remnants of the failed potion now congealed to the shards of metal, his and Dean's workspace, the floor, possibly the ceiling…

Snape vanished away what he could and scourgified the rest. "Five points from Gryffindor for sheer idiocy. There's a reason the instructions call for _five_ lace wing flies rather than six," the greasy man sneered.

Seamus hung his head. He'd understood the potion and _why_ the lace wing flies were necessary. He just thought that if he added a bit more, he could increase the longevity of the results. Sigh.

"I know what you were after, mate, and it was a good thought," Dean reassured him. "You'll have better luck next time, just keep trying." Seamus beamed at his friend's encouragement, which gave him a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

" **BANG!** "

Seamus's mouse had disappeared in a blinding flash of light. He grinned. Despite the terrible noise, he was sure he had successfully Vanished his mouse except for a notable quantity of hair left on the tabletop. It just left tufts of fur everywhere on its way out of this dimension, nothing too worrisome.

"I would hold off on congratulating yourself, Mr. Finnigan," Professor McGonagall said briskly as she flicked her eyes upward. "Vanishing shouldn't produce any light."

Before he could follow her gaze, what looked like a tiny claw dropped onto the table, and several girls screamed and fled from the room, followed almost all of his classmates. He looked up to see his mouse's skeleton hanging from the wooden rafter overhead.

It turned out he could vanish bodily tissues just fine. Bones were much harder.

McGonagall shook her head and headed into the hallway to wrangle her students as Seamus fell into his seat and slumped down.

Dean leaned over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Even McGonagall says the denser substances like bone and rock are way harder to Vanish. You've already made more progress than half the class. Nothing to be ashamed of." Buoyed, Seamus got it on the next try. He was also cognizant of just where Dean had clasped his shoulder for the rest of the day. It wasn't altogether an unpleasant feeling.


	2. Out With A Bang

**Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.**

* * *

" **WHOMP**!"

"Just like that, you're not coming back?" Seamus barked as he threw his school books into his trunk.

Dean sighed. "You know it's not going to be safe for muggleborns. I wouldn't be surprised if Harry keeps Hermione from coming back too."

" **THUD!** "

"But it won't be safe for you out there either!" Seamus challenged, dragging his trunk to the floor.

"You think I don't know that?" Dean growled. "But I've got a better shot at avoiding whatever's coming if I'm not holed up in a castle where I'm supposed to be."

" **SLAM!** "

Seamus dropped the lid of his trunk and, full of frustration, turned to face his roommate and best friend.

"I'm about to sound like a bloody bird, so don't ever tell anyone I said this- you're my best friend and I feel like you're abandoning me. Mum watches this muggle telly program called "Grey's Anemone"-

"Anatomy," Dean corrected

The Irishman rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, these birds talk about being each other's 'person'. It's kind of like…"

"Like you're cosmically bound, best friends, partners in crime, and have complete trust in each other?" Dean supplied carefully. The word "soulmate", though left unsaid, hung in the air.

" **CRASH!** "

Needing to dispel the intensity of the moment, Seamus flopped heavily onto his bed, his headboard colliding with the stone wall.

"Exactly. Mate, are you watching chick programs now? Anyway, I just think you're going to leave and find someone better than me. And then I'll be person-less, which would be complete shite," he muttered, flushing with embarrassment at having laid his emotions out in the open.

" **SMACK!** "

Dean's only immediate response was a face-palm.

"Why do you think I've been your partner in literally every class since day one, even though you blow shit up every term?" he asked incredulously. "We're best mates, practically attached at the hip even outside of class, and you're worried I'm going to leave you? _Merlin_ , you're an idiot. We're in this together, forever. I've always been your person, and I'm going to keep being your person. I'm just going to have to do it from a distance for a bit," he finished, bringing them back to the reality of their situation.

Seamus swallowed the lump in his throat. He'd always felt a little more for his "person" than was probably acceptable for mates or even brothers, and he'd not had the time or opportunity to suss it all out. With so much left unsaid, the idea that this could be the last time they ever saw each other was tearing him apart.

" **CRACK!** "

He pulled Dean into a quickly reciprocated bone crushing hug.

"Promise me you'll be careful," he choked out. There, that was masculine yet heartfelt. Perfectly acceptable final words.

Dean, however, could read him like an open book. "I'll come back to you, mate. I promise."


	3. Mind (Not) Blown

**Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.**

* * *

" **POP!** "

Dean and Seamus Apparated into an alley behind a defunct flower shop in Upton Park. Dean was nearly vibrating with excitement, and even the football-naïve Seamus found his enthusiasm infectious.

"Let's go ahead and get inside so we can find our seats and get some food and maybe watch some warm ups and-"

"Breathe, D," Seamus laughed as his boyfriend dragged him toward the gates.

Once inside, Seamus found Boleyn Ground to be not too unlike a Quidditch stadium. There was a pitch in the middle with goals on both ends, and seats were crammed into every available space around the field. He looked at the man sitting next to him and stifled a chuckle.

Dean had on a West Ham jersey, a West Ham cap, and West Ham face paint, leaving no doubt as to who _he_ was supporting today. He'd kindly loaned Seamus an old T-shirt for the day. Seamus had no intention of returning, invoking boyfriend privileges. Dean's left hand was shoved into what he called a "foam finger", which Seamus thought would catch on quite well in Quidditch. The players were still warming up, but Dean was already yelling at them and the people seated around him with excitement.

Seamus found the actual sport quite boring. A bunch of men got together and kicked around a Quaffle-sized ball for an hour and a half with very few goals- less than five the whole match!

What Seamus loved was watching Dean watch the match. His facial expression changed with every pass, every possession change, every shot; so much so that it was difficult for Seamus to keep up with how he was supposed to be feeling. When West Ham scored and broke the tie in the final minutes of the game, Seamus found it slightly more exciting. However, he was far more interested in the way Dean was jumping around, spilling his popcorn and hugging the man sitting on his other side, whom he'd never met before today.

Walking out of the stadium, Dean slung his arm around Seamus's shoulders.

"So, what did you think?" he asked the Irish man. "Would you do it again?"

Seamus looked up into Dean's face, reveling in the light, the joy he saw in his deep brown eyes. After the war, it had been so long before he saw Dean look this way again. These days, he took every opportunity he could to appreciate it. If some deadly boring football match could make him feel this way…

"Hell yeah! That was great! I'd totally be down to see another match!" Seamus said without an ounce of deceit.


	4. Dynamite Gifting

**Disclaimer: If the Potterverse was mine, things would have gone very differently. That said, many thanks to JK Rowling for letting us play in the world she created. It's one hell of a sandbox.**

* * *

" **DING!** "

The door of The Three Broomsticks chimed as Parvati entered and found Dean sitting at a table in the very back of the pub.

"So, have you had any revelations since the last time we saw each other?" Parvati asked, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"No, that's why I asked _you_ ," Dean snorted. "You're the one who has the whole "second sight" thing going on. You should be able to tell me what he wants."

Parvati scoffed. "You know it doesn't work like that. And you're the one who knows him best! It can't be that difficult to pick an anniversary gift. Just think about what he likes."

"We've been over this," Dean groused. "He blows things up for a living, and so I can't really buy him job related stuff. He also wears really old clothes for work in case something happens to them, so it won't do any good to buy him a new shirt and whatnot. He doesn't like to read, so books are out. I guess I could do something standard like chocolates, or I could even pick up something from Fred and George's…"

"Ugh, no. You guys have been officially together for a year now. Chocolate is fine for a first date, not a first anniversary," Parvati asserted, folding her arms across her chest. "I know what your problem is-you're being overly practical. You're thinking too much about what he could _need_. Focus on what he might _want_."

"Well it's not like I'm going to find any dragons or muggle dynamite for sale!" Dean exclaimed.

"Have you looked?" Parvati shot back.

"No!" Dean half-shouted, and nearby patrons shot him death glares for disturbing their nice, quiet lunch hour.

"Okay, new tactic," Parvati declared. "What are your schedules like together? Maybe we can think of something that you could _do_ together."

Dean sighed. "We hardly see each other during the week. One or both of us work late a lot of nights, and we just never find the energy to pack a bag to pop over to the other's flat."

The Indian girl snapped her fingers. "That's it! You ask him to move in together!" Seeing Dean's shock, she quickly added, "If you're ready for it, that is."

Dean shook his head. "It's fine. We've actually been talking about it recently, but nothing concrete. I guess I could go look at a few flats and see if I could find one that would work for the both of us…"

Parvati began to bounce up and down in her seat. "And you could wrap up the key in a cute little box and make it a portkey so that it takes you both there when he opens it, and-"

Dean shot out of his chair and pulled his former classmate into a quick hug. "You're the best Parv. Gotta run! See you soon!" he called over his shoulder as he headed for the realtor's office.

A week later, Dean and Seamus were portkeyed into a cute two bedroom cottage in Holyhead. Seamus was shocked but thrilled when Dean told him that he had already put down the deposit for the house. It was still in Britain, which made traveling for work easy, but it was less than 150 km to Ireland, so Apparition and portkeys to Dublin weren't considered international travel by either ministry. There was a beautiful back garden with plenty of room for flying, and they had a beautiful view of the ocean.

Seamus was touched by the obvious care and thought Dean had put into choosing their new place, and he didn't have to think twice about Dean's offer to move in together. He was _so_ ready to turn that house into their home.


	5. Dropping The Bomb

" **SLAM!** "

"Do these people even know you're gay?" Seamus called from the bathroom, shoving his razor back in drawer.

"They know I live with you. They probably think we're roommates, but no one's ever really asked," Dean answered, magicking his tie into a perfect Windsor knot.

Seamus came back into their bedroom, freshly shaved. "So you're going to out yourself to your whole office at the company Christmas party?" he asked disbelievingly.

Dean shrugged. "I told Blaise right after he bought the team, and he's the only one who could even think of firing me. He said he didn't care who I lived with or dated as long as I kept doing my job well. He just wants to make money."

Turns out Seamus had been right about those foam fingers. After Dean earned a graphic design degree from a muggle university, he'd been hired by Puddlemere United's marketing department. His ability to integrate muggle marketing and design concepts with the wizarding world helped him climb the ranks of his department in record time. Blaise Zabini bought Puddlemere three years ago and, having heard of his great success, made Dean the VP of Marketing for the entire club. At 30, he was the youngest VP in the entire British and Irish Quidditch League.

"Then we'd better get going, or we're going to be late!" Seamus warned.

The two men Apparated into Dean's office and moved to the front office to join the party. The decrepit secretaries greeted Dean with a pinch to his cheeks, and none of the female interns could take their eyes off Seamus, wondering where this hot new guy came from.

The two milled about, making small talk and chatting with Dean's coworkers. As the firewhiskey began flowing, the party got rowdier. Plenty of off-key Christmas carols and bawdy drinking songs filled the air with festive cheer and a sense of impending regret.

As they were walking through a doorway, the two wizards found themselves frozen in the space by enchanted mistletoe.

The entire office turned to stare at them. Once trapped by enchanted mistletoe, the only way to break free was to kiss whoever you were trapped with. But it was only supposed to trap a man and a woman, unless…

In their slightly boozy state, Dean and Seamus decided that if people were going to stare, they'd give them something to stare at. People later swore their snogging was so intense that it burned the enchantment right off the mistletoe. All Dean and Seamus cared about was that the party was a ton of fun and a smashing success. Mission accomplished.


	6. Missiles Incoming

" **CraaaackCRASH!** "

"It's broken! Look, you've broken it, you idiot."

Turning from the pile of wood, Seamus shot Dean a questioning look. "We're wizards. Remember?" He waved his wand, and the pieces of the bunkbed were immediately repaired and then assembled properly.

"I thought we were doing this the muggle way," Dean pouted.

Seamus scoffed. " _You_ insisted on _trying_ to do it the muggle way, and look where that got us. Magic is safer anyway. This way, you know everything is exactly as it should be, with every screw, every crossbar, and every railing properly secured.

"I know," his husband said, sitting heavily on the lower bunk. "I just wanted us to do _something_ by hand to get ready for the kids. I feel like they're just dropping in our laps, like we haven't really _proved_ that we want them.

"Amity and Gareth won't care if we put their beds together with magic or muggle tools. All they're going to care about is whether we love them or not. And I know we've already got that part down pat," Seamus assured him.

Dean nodded, and the two finished setting up the twins' room before getting freshened up and heading for the ministry.

The adoption process had been a long road for the two men. At age 34, Dean and Seamus had been married for four years now, and had been ready to start a family early on in their relationship. Both men had dreamed of being fathers for years, and legalizing their relationship had made that dream a possibility. The litigation, investigation, examinations, and overall political crap that accompanied adoption would have been bad enough given its rarity in the magical world. But Dean and Seamus were the first gay couple to try to adopt, and many had made their displeasure known at the thought. The whole process had taken over three years, but with the help of their wonderful attorneys, the support of their family and friends, and the influence of their mate Harry Potter, they were finalizing the adoption of their two children today.

Amity and Gareth Peyton were four-year old muggleborn fraternal twins whose parents were killed in an automobile crash. Their grandparents were all deceased, and there were no aunts, uncles, cousins, or close family friends that were willing or able to raise them. They'd been wards of the ministry for a little over a year now, and Dean and Seamus had known them for about nine months. It had been love at first sight.

Amity was a spunky, outgoing little girl with strawberry blond hair and tons of freckles. The sweet child had never met a stranger and could carry on a full, adult-like conversation with anyone she met. She also loved everything dramatic and sparkly and pink, and her huge, deep blue puppy dog eyes could have melted the heart of even Severus Snape. On top of it all, her inquisitiveness was astounding. She was always asking questions about various potions, animals, jobs, people, and anything else that sparked her curiosity. Amity had taken a shine to Dean and Seamus immediately.

Her brother Gareth shared her pale freckled skin, blue eyes, and desire for knowledge, but that was where the similarities ended. His hair was a sandy brown that just couldn't stay out of his face, and he constantly had to push it out of his way in order to see what he was reading. He was happy to while away the hours tucked away in the corner of a library or perched in the high branches of a tree with a good book. Gareth was also rather fearless. He climbed so high to read his books in peace that Seamus had lost him more than once, and Dean nearly had a heart attack when Gareth fell, breaking his own fall with accidental magic. It had taken quite a bit longer for him to open up to Dean and Seamus, but when he did, it had been worth every ounce of effort.

The two men had been anxious about becoming parents at first, but they were also beyond excited. Who better to embark on this journey with than your best friend and the love of your life? Shaking off the nerves, Dean and Seamus walked through the door of the Child Services office and were assailed by two tiny, child-sized missiles.

"Daddy!" Gareth cried, flinging himself around Dean's knees. The man chuckled, ruffling his son's hair with easy affection.

"Papa!" Amity squealed as Seamus scooped her up into his arms and squeezed her tight. _This_ was what they had been waiting, hoping, wishing for.

"Are you lot ready to go home?" he asked with a grin.

All four cheered, thrilled to finally be a family.


	7. Blast From The Past

Seamus wasn't quite sure why Harry Potter had asked to see him. Not that he didn't want to spend an evening catching up to his old dorm mate- he was quite looking forward to that. The timing was just odd. Harry had sounded rather urgent, and, in Seamus's opinion, it was bad news when the world's most powerful wizard was concerned about something.

The Irish man arrived at Harry's office right on time. He was quietly ushered into the cluttered, well-appointed room, and he saw his old friend slouched over his desk, finishing up a hard day's paperwork.

"Good to see you, mate," the auror said, standing to shake Seamus's hand. "It's been too long since we all got together for a few rounds."

"You're not wrong there! But it wouldn't be so hard to do if someone wasn't working all the time," Seamus responded with a wink.

Harry just laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you're starting to sound like my wife now. Hermione says that if she didn't have our license, she would think I was actually married to this office. And don't even get her started on the kids. Speaking of which…"

Harry gestured toward the sitting area in his office where tea service was already laid out. They sat down, each preparing his own tea. Seamus stayed silent, unsure of just where he fit in with the mention of Harry and Hermione's kids.

Harry took his time stirring, adding just the right amount of sugar and milk, sipping slowly. It was driving Seamus mad. Unable to put off the conversation any longer, Harry sighed and placed his cup on the coffee table.

"Mate, I don't know of the polite or proper way to say this, so I'm just going to get on with it- I think my son is gay."

Seamus very nearly spat his tea all over Harry's office.

"Well, I, um… Yeah, that's…Uhh…" Seamus spluttered.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, when Hermione told me her suspicions that was my reaction too. But the more I thought about it, the less I was surprised. I don't really want to get into right now, but we have our reasons for suspecting that Al is gay, or at least not straight."

"Forgive me for asking, but what does this have to do with me?" Seamus inquired warily. He'd had other men ask how to keep their sons from turning into poofs like him. He was pretty sure Harry wouldn't say anything of the sort, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

Harry's face turned pink. "Seamus, you're the only man with the… necessary experiences that I feel comfortable talking to about this. I'm not trying to dig into your personal life or your relationship with Dean, and I know I've made a bloody mess of this conversation. But what I really need to know is this- what does my son need to hear from me if and when he comes out to me?"

Seamus looked up into the most earnest, sincere pair of emerald eyes. Harry was leaned forward, looking a bit like his wife when she was learning something new and important. In a way, Seamus supposed he was. In that moment, it was clear that Harry Potter wanted nothing more than to support his son; he was just uncertain of how to do so.

Leaning back in his chair, Seamus said, "There's a lot I could tell you. What he may be feeling, what advice you should and shouldn't offer him, what struggles he may face in the future. But what's most important, mate, is that you love and support him, and you need to make sure he _knows_ that. _I_ know you do because you wouldn't have asked me here if you didn't."

Harry pondered this for a moment. Nodding his head, he said, "I think we've got that part down pat, but it never hurts to keep reminding him. Thank you for all your help, Seamus."

"Not a problem, Harry," Seamus replied, standing and shaking the other man's hand. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you or your son."

"Absolutely," Harry assured him.

Seamus left the auror's office confident that, if Harry's son was gay or bisexual or asexual or anything else, he'd have a great support system, no matter what.


	8. The Big Bang

"eeeeeeeeoooooooOOOOOOOOOO **BOOM!"**

Dean rushed out into the back garden to see his husband standing in their vegetable patch, his jaw hanging open. His silver hair was slightly singed, and there was a layer of dirt all over his face and the front of his clothes.

In front of him, crushing most of the tomatoes and half the cucumbers, was a rather large rock. It was oddly shaped and so heavily pitted that it looked almost porous, but other than that, it looked like any old dusty, gray rock. Except for the smoke rising from its surface. That was pretty different.

Seamus looked up as Dean moved carefully across the lawn, avoiding getting too close to the intruder.

"D, I think it's a meteorite!" Seamus yelled in the other man's ear.

Dean jumped back, shaking his head at the Irish man's deafness that was, hopefully, temporary. "I think you're right, Shay," he called back a bit softer. "I don't know what we're going to do with it though."

"What do you mean?" Seamus yelled a little more faintly, reaching for his wand. "Let's crack this puppy open!"

"NO!" cried Dean. Seamus gave him a funny look and holstered his wand. "I read a long time ago that these things can have some weird stuff in them that may or may not be okay to touch. I know we're wizards and all, but I don't want to take any chances."

Seamus sighed. "Fine, be reasonable," he said at almost a normal decibel.

Dean just laughed. "I'm going to owl the ministry. They can send someone, probably a couple Unspeakables over here. I just want it gone before the grandkids get here."

At the mention of their grandkids, Seamus perked up. Playing with those little rascals was well worth ignoring a new, possibly explosive toy.

The Unspeakables arrived less than an hour later. To their surprise, Scorpius Malfoy and Eugene Macmillan were quite polite and grateful for the opportunity to study something so strange. They carefully packed it into a large crate and portkeyed it back to a secure facility in the bowels of the ministry.

"The kids are never going to believe that happened!" Seamus crowed as he shut the front door. "I mean, who else has a giant space rock land ten feet from them while they're weeding the squash?"

Dean chuckled. "In theory, I suppose it could happen to anyone. But somehow it always happens to you."


End file.
